I should have confined myself to expressing, in terms of unfeigned admiration and respect, my gratitude for the interest which Your Imperial Majesty is pleased to take in the literature of my country, and in the efforts of so humble an individual as myself, had I not felt that the work which you have permitted me to inscribe to your name is in every way unworthy of being presented to one, alike illustrious by talents and virtues, and by rank. At the time that Your Imperial Majesty's gracious message was communicated to me, the following pages were not only written, but in the press; and my strong desire to obey your commands without any delay, induces me to dedicate this work to you, although it is in some degree connected with a former production, already, I believe, in Your Majesty's possession. Under other circumstances, I might have laboured, though I certainly should have laboured in vain, to produce a work worthy of your acceptance; but I must then have delayed long what I was eager to perform promptly; and, most assuredly, nothing that I could have written would have worthily testified the admiration and pleasure with which I have marked, from afar, the immense efforts of yourself and your Imperial Consort to encourage literature and science in your dominions, and to improve the moral and social condition of your subjects. That those efforts may be crowned with the most brilliant success, and repay you, to the last of your days, with the noblest recompence that monarchs can receive,--the blessings of a happy and enlightened people,--is the sincere prayer of Your Imperial Majesty's most humble and most obedient Servant, George Payne Rainsford James. THE LITTLE BALL O' FIRE OR, JOHN MARSTON HALL. CHAPTER I.